Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

Senate Panel To Hold Hearing On Improper Payments Made By Medicare And Medicaid

In related news, a judge rules that CVS did not intentionally defraud the government when it filed erroneous Medicare claims, as a whistleblower lawsuit alleged.

The Hill:
Senate Finance To Examine Improper Federal Payments
The Senate Finance Committee will take a deeper look next Thursday at improper payments from three key federal programs – Medicare, Medicaid and the Earned Income Tax Credit. Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch said those three programs were responsible for roughly three-quarters of the almost $125 billion in improper federal payments in fiscal 2014. Gene Dodaro, the head of the Government Accountability Office, which looked into the number of improper payments, will appear at the Oct. 1 hearing. The hearing is scheduled for the day after the current deadline that lawmakers face for funding the government. (Becker, 9/23)

Reuters:
CVS Dodges Medicare Fraud Whistleblower Lawsuit
CVS Health Corp's pharmacy benefit management unit has dodged a whistleblower lawsuit accusing it of multiple violations of the federal Medicare law, including approving claims for drugs without proper physician identification or necessary authorization. U.S. District Judge Ronald Buckwalter of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled Tuesday that while CVS Caremark, a division of Rhode Island-based CVS, may have made errors in processing Medicare claims, it did not deliberately defraud the government. (Pierson, 9/23)

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